Harvesting device

ABSTRACT

The method is for harvesting a crop. A harvesting device ( 10 ) is provided that has an upper harvesting device ( 16 ) and a lower harvesting device ( 16 ). The upper harvesting device is in front of the lower harvesting device. The upper harvesting device detaches crop sections ( 24 ) of stalk sections ( 26 ) of crops ( 18 ). An intermediate engagement member ( 42 ) bends the stalk sections forwardly and the lower harvesting device cuts root sections ( 28 ) of the crops.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a harvesting device. More particularly,it relates to a harvesting device for hemp, cereals and other similarcrops.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Many different harvesting machines have been developed in the past. Theconventional machines are not suitable for harvesting certain crops suchas hemp, cereals and other crops and they sometimes require multipleharvesting that is time consuming and expensive to do. For example,traditional methods are still used in many countries. Pre-retting anddrying take place in the field and the processing of fibers takes placein industrial plants. It is often only the long fibers that are soughtafter for the weaving of textiles. The shives/hurds are retted away infull and only the fibers are taken care of. This is a verylabor-intensive method.

There is also a tradition of producing paper of various qualities fordifferent applications. Normally, the seeds are first harvested with theaid of a traditional combine harvester with an elevated cutting table.After that the field is gone over once again using a chaff cutter whichcuts of the remaining stalk and lay them parallel in rows in the fieldfor pre-retting and drying. This method provides a relatively good seedyield but does not recover the stalk material at the same time. Methodshave also been developed for tearing off the stalk. These methods resultin great seed losses and also parts of the stalks are lost.

There is a need to an effective harvesting method that recovers more ofthe harvest while also being efficient. There is a need for a methodthat enables the harvesting of the crop while limiting waste and alsoenables the cutting of the stalk sections without having to go over thefield a second time.

Also, for the purpose of spreading harvested material evenly, thepredominant method is to mechanically spread the material usingcentrifugal power. The width of harvesting equipment has increasedconsiderably during recent years, and hence the material has a longerway to go sidewise in order to cover the area properly. The increasedlength makes this operation more sensitive to wind. The uneven spreadmakes the soil improvement less efficient.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The method of the present invention provides a solution to theabove-mentioned problems. More particularly, the method is forharvesting a crop. A harvesting device is provided that has an upperharvesting device and a lower harvesting device. The upper harvestingdevice is disposed in front of the lower harvesting device so that itextends beyond the lower harvesting device. The upper harvesting devicecan also be lowered to the same level, and in some cases also evenbelow, as the lower harvesting device in order to harvest any kind ofcrop. The upper harvesting device strips or detaches the (seed, flowerand leaf) crop sections from the stalk sections of the crops. Anintermediate adjustable engagement member may be used to bend the stalksections forwardly before the lower harvesting device cuts root sectionsof the crops. The method also includes steps for spreading the materialevenly over the harvested area.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional side view of the harvesting deviceof the present invention, and

FIG. 2 is a schematic front view of a portion of the harvesting deviceshown in FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

With reference to FIGS. 1-2, a harvesting device 10 of the presentinvention is shown. The device 10 has a driving unit 12 and an upperharvesting unit 14 and a lower harvesting unit 16 for harvesting a crop18 such as hemp, cereals or any other suitable crop.

The upper harvesting unit 14 has a table 20 above with a rotatingstripper header 22 with outwardly protruding fingers 23 are disposed.Preferably, the header is rotating in a counter-clockwise direction (D1)to strip or detach crop sections 24 from stalk sections 26 of the crop18. In this way, the crop sections 24 may be detached or removed fromthe stalk sections without cutting the stalk sections and before thestalk sections are bent. It should be noted that the removal of the cropis performed while the stalk sections 26 are still standing. The cropsections may contain seeds, flowers and leaves. A rotatable elongatefeed screw 28 with helical edges 30 may be used. The screw may rotate ina clockwise direction (D2) to guide the crop sections 24 towards amid-portion 32 of the harvesting unit 14. In the alternative, if thecrop sections contain seeds, the harvesting unit 14 may be provided withan optional sieve that permits the seeds to fall therethrough into acontainer 27 disposed below and behind the screw 28 of the upperharvesting unit 14, via a conveyor belt.

The mid-portion 32 cooperates with a rotatable endless conveyor belt 34that conveys the remaining crop sections 24 to a receiver 36 for storingthe detached crop sections 24. There may be a second conveyor belt thatconveys the crop sections from the belt 34 to the top of the receiver36. The conveyor belt 34 rests on a hydraulic rod 38 that may be used toraise and lower the belt 34 so that the belt 34 and thus the unit 14 aremovable between a raised position 39 and a lowered position 40 so thatthe height of the unit 14 may be adjusted to the height of the cropsections 24 relative to the ground.

The device 10 has an intermediate member 42 that may be horizontal andprotrude forwardly. The member 42 may have an engagement member 44attached at a forward edge 46 of the member. One function of the member42 is to urge the stalk section 26 forwardly so as to slightly bend thestalk section forwardly so that the stalk sections 26 are bent forwardlyand the already harvested crop sections 24 are disposed ahead or infront of the root sections 48 of the crop. Because the harvesting unit14 extends beyond the engagement member 44, the crop sections 24 arealready removed by the time the engagement member 44 engages amid-portion 43 of the stalk section 26 to bend the stalk sections 26forwardly to make it easier to later cut the stalk sections at the rootsections 28. The method of the present invention is especially adaptedfor crops taller than around one meter.

The device 10 also has the lower harvesting unit 16 that includes arotatable knife device 52 with helical edges 54 for cutting the rootsection 48 of the crop 18 and a rotatable guiding unit 50 guides theroot sections 28 of the cut stalk sections 26 into a chamber 56 toencounter a crusher 58 that may rotate in the counter-clockwisedirection (D1) and a rotatable guiding unit 60 may rotate in theclockwise direction (D2) so that the stalk sections 26 may be crushedtherebetween into elongated flattened pieces 66. The crushed or flatpieces dry faster than the cut stalk sections. By regulating the speedof the rotating guiding units 58 and 60 the airiness and the density ofthe pieces can be controlled and adjusted to the desired dryness leveland to also minimize the volume. It is also possible to adjust theguiding units 58 and 60 to the method used to gather the pieces. Theflat pieces 66 may also be guided towards a mid-section 62 of theharvesting unit 16 and backwardly, as shown by an arrow Fl, and bepermitted to fall through an opening 64 defined in an underside of theunit 12 so that the flattened elongate pieces 66 are lined up in aparallel direction compared to the direction of the harvesting device10.

Behind the crusher 58 the rotatable guiding unit 60 the material may bechopped into small pieces for several purposes; one is for the spreadingoff the material evenly over the whole area harvested to be used forsoil improvement and in order to facilitate soil treatment. Moreparticularly, the device 10 may have a hacker 74 for hacking or grindingthe chopped material or stalk sections into small pieces and a fanmember 67 for moving the chopped material rearwardly and a valve device68 with a downwardly and backwardly extending tube 70 and a backwardlydirected conduit 72 for evenly spreading the chopped material on thefield. The velocity and direction of the tube may be adjusted.

The function also allows for collecting the material in a containerbehind the unit 10. The chopped material may be transported with thehelp of adjustable airstreams produced by an accelerator-fan. Theair-stream is adjustable with reference to the actual need that savesenergy. The factors taken into consideration are which mode is chosen,the amount of material, and the area which the material is spread over.These air-streams may also be used for the purpose of evenly spreadingthe material over the harvested area. This method of spreading thematerial can also take into consideration such factors as windconditions, by adjusting air-stream velocity and direction to compensatefor wind drift. The alternative use of function may be taken care of bya valve. One feature of the spreading of the material is that thematerial may be used to fertilize the soil since some crops such as hemphas fertilizing properties.

An important feature is that the upper harvesting unit 14 extends moreforwardly than the member 42 and the lower harvesting unit 16 so thatthe crop sections 24 can be removed before the stalk sections 26 arebent forwardly slightly. In this way, there is less risk that the cropfalls to the ground when the stalk sections are bent. The crop sections24 are thus removed before the stalk sections are bent forwardly and theroot sections 28 are cut. The crop sections 24 may be harvested withreduced risk of spilling the crops on the ground and the stalk sections26 may be cut at the root section 28 without having to drive theharvesting device 10 a second time on the crop field. The stalk sections26 may be cut at different levels to leave higher stubble to improveaeration and make the quality more even. More particularly, a middlestubble that is about one meter wide, which corresponds to the width ofthe string of the stem that leaves the machine, may be left taller thanthe surrounding and also be cracked, with the help of girder iron, tokeep the material left for effective drying and/or ultraviolet—and dewretting alleviated. This process may be used to dry the material moreeffectively and produce a better quality product. This method alsoleaves less material left in the field compared to conventional methods.

While the present invention has been described in accordance withpreferred compositions and embodiments, it is to be understood thatcertain substitutions and alterations may be made thereto withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the following claims.

1. A method of harvesting a crop, comprising: providing a harvestingdevice (10) having a crop harvesting device (16) and a stalk cuttingdevice (16), the crop harvesting device being in front of the cuttingdevice, the crop harvesting device detaching crop sections (24) of stalksections (26) of crops (18), an intermediate member (42) bending thestalk sections forwardly, and the cutting device cutting root sections(28) of the crops.
 2. The method according to the claim 1 wherein themethod further comprises the moving crop sections on a conveyor belt(34) backwardly into a container (36).
 3. The method according to theclaim 1 wherein the method further comprises the stalk cutting device(16) crushing the cut stalk sections to reduce a diameter of the stalksections and breaking the stalk sections diagonally in order to improveaeration.
 4. The method according to the claim 3 wherein the methodfurther comprises permitting the crushed stalk sections to fall throughan opening (64) of the harvesting device (10).
 5. The method accordingto the claim 3 wherein the method further comprises providing the cropharvesting device with a stripper header (22) that rotates in acounter-clockwise direction (D1) and a guide member (28) that rotates ina clockwise direction (D2).
 6. The method according to the claim 1wherein the method further comprises adjusting a height of thecrop-harvesting device with a lifting mechanism (38).
 7. The methodaccording to the claim 1 wherein the method further comprises conveyingthe stalk sections (26) so that root sections (28) engages a stripperheader (58) and a guide member (60).
 8. The method according to theclaim 1 wherein the method further comprises the engagement member (42)engaging a mid-portion (43) of the stalk sections (26) prior to thelower harvesting unit (16) cutting the root sections (28).
 9. The methodaccording to claim 1 wherein the method further comprises spreading cutstalk section evenly over a field.